Ombudswoman: patients at Tbilisi Mental Health Center aren't protected from violence
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjara says that the condition of the patients at Tbilisi Mental Health Center is severe. Photo: Public Defender’s press office.
Tweet 
Share
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria says that patients at Tbilisi Mental Health Center are not protected from violence, inhuman or degrading treatment.
They are not provided with psycho-social rehabilitation services, while the infrastructure fails to ensure the protection of their dignity,” said the ombudsman's report.
She callen on the government to respond to the problem in a timely fashion.
Lomjaria says that her office has received ‘numerous reports’ of physical and psychological abuse of patients by the facility personnel.
Psychiatric care in the facility is virtually reduced to pharmacological therapy. Some of the patients receive the minimum therapeutic dose of medication and they do not undergo psycho-social rehabilitation. The institution does not have sufficient human resources to provide patients with the appropriate level of care, psycho-social rehabilitation, information, education or support to ensure their independent living or inclusion in society,” said the report.
Lomjaria says that the facility’s infrastructure is also outdated.
The report is based on a monitoring visit paid by Lomjaria to Tbilisi Mental Health Center on September 15-16, 2020.
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria has stated that so-called prison watchers (inmates) and not prison administration ensure ‘fictitious order’ in prisons and that groups of inmates ‘have been systematically carrying out verbal attacks, threats and aggression’ against the employees of the Public Defender’s Office.
Georgian Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani and Ombudswoman Nino Lomjaria argued with each other in parliament today, during a presentation of Lomjaria’s report on the situation in four prisons of Georgia.The report says that inmates in #2, #8, #14 and #15 prisons are subjected to violence both from the administration and other inmates.The report reads that the influence of the “criminal subculture” in prisons, “the informal running of prisons by criminal bosses, so-called supervisors and others with criminal-mentality” still remains high.
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria has released her annual report for human rights in 2019, as well as a special report on the June protests in Tbilisi in which she said that the former head of Special Tasks Department of Interior Ministry should be held accountable for abuse of authority.
The Georgian Public Defender has released its 2018 Human Rights Report, covering all the issues and controversial cases related to human rights of the last year.
The Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria has released her 2020 report which concerns problematic issues in the country.